Digital foot measuring instrument

ABSTRACT

An instrument for measuring a human foot and providing a visual display of an appropriate shoe size fitting such foot. The instrument comprises a housing with a cover on which the foot is placed with its heel in engagement with a stationary abutment. A first longitudinally movable abutment is manually engaged with the ball of the foot, a second longitudinally movable abutment is manually engaged with the foremost projecting toe of the foot and a third laterally movable abutment is manually engaged with the side of the foot. A pair of shoe size charts are each fastened to the periphery of one of a pair of drum members. One of the drum members, mounted in the instrument housing below the cover, is longitudinally movable as a result of the displacement of the toe end engaging abutment and the other is longitudinally movable as a result of the displacement of the ball engagement abutment. Both drum members are rotatable in unison as a result of the lateral movement of the foot side engaging abutment. The charts bear shoe size indicia of increasing length size along their longitudinal axis and of the same shoe length size but of increasing width along their lateral axes, except that the longitudinal axis scale of the chart on the drum member longitudinally displaced by the ball engaging abutment is contracted relative to the longitudinal axis scale of the chart on the other drum member. The appropriate shoe size is read by viewing and sighting through a pair of windows disposed through the instrument cover for reading a single shoe size from each of the charts. The larger shoe size display corresponds to an appropriate shoe size for the foot. At least a third chart bearing drum member, corresponding for example to foot arch length sizes, may be provided, such that the other foot of the person may also be measured and sized, if so desired.

' [75] Inventor:

Stiebel DIGITAL FOOT MEASURING INSTRUMENT Ariel Stiebel, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

[73] Assignee: Radex Corporation, Detroit, Mich.

[22] Filed: Feb, 16, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 333,073

- Related U-Sr Application Data 7 [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser; No. 133,825, April 14,

1971, Pat. No. 3,757,418.

Primary Examiner l-larry Haroian Assistant Examiner-Charles E. Phillips Attorney, Agent, or F irm-J-lauke, Gifford, Patalidis Dumont 57 ABSTRACT An instrument for measuring a human foot and providing a visual display of an appropriate shoe size fitting such foot. The instrument comprises a housing with a cover on which the foot is placed with its heel [451 Sept. in, 1974 in engagement with a stationary abutment. A first longitudinally movable abutment is manually engaged with the ball of the foot, a second longitudinally movable abutment is manually engaged with the foremost projecting toe of the foot and a third laterally movable abutment is manually engaged with the side of the foot. A pair of shoe size charts are each fastened to the periphery of one of a pair of drum members. One of the drum members, mounted in the instrument housing below the cover, is longitudinally movable as a result of the displacement of the toe end engaging abutment and the other is longitudinally movable as a result of the displacement of the ball engagement abutment. Both drum members are rotatable in unison as a result of the lateral movement of the foot side engaging abutment. The charts bear shoe size indicia of increasing length size along their longitudinal axis and of the same shoe length size but of increasing width along their lateral axes, except that the longitudinal axis scale of the chart on the drum member longitudinally displaced by the ball engaging abutment is contracted relative to the longitudinal axis scale of the chart on the other drum member. The appropriate shoe size is read by viewing and sighting through a pair of windows disposed through the instrument cover for-reading a single shoe size from each of the charts. The larger shoe size display corresponds to an appropriate shoe size for the foot. At least a third chart bearing drum member, corresponding for exampie to foot arch length sizes, may be provided, such that the other foot of the person may also be measured and sized, if so desired.

14 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures 1. DIGITAL FOOT MEASURING INSTRUMENT CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS AND PATENT APPLICATIONS The present application is a continuation-in-part of US. Pat. application Ser. No. 133,825, filed Apr. 14, 1971, now US. Pat. No. 3,757,418 and is related to US. Pat. No. 3,494,036, issued Feb. 10, 1970, which are both assigned to the same assignee as the present application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to foot measuring instruments in general and, more particularly, to an instrument for providing a digital shoe size readout permitting accurate fitting of shoes to the feet of a person. The instrument of the present invention provides two shoe size readouts with respect to a selected foot of the person, for example the right foot which statistically is. the larger of the two feet, taking into consideration the measurements of both the overall length and the arch length of the foot, such that the larger shoe size displayed is selected by the user of the instrument.

Prior art foot measuring devices for determining shoe sizes preparatory to fitting a person with footwear generally consist of a manually operated gaging apparatus provided with a slide which is utilized to measure the overall length of the foot and another slide utilized to measure the width of the foot. The accuracy of such a device is questionable, and the operation thereof requires a certain amount of skill and training on the part of the user in order to properly manipulate the slides, and to interpret and read correctly the shoe size indicated by the instrument. The shoe size is determined by registration of a reference line with one indicium among a plurality of indicia on a scale, thus difficult to read and subject to reading errors.

More complex prior art foot measuring devices provide several visual displays of the length and of the width of the foot. Such devices do not take into account the problems of the non-standard foot in which the arch length, i.e., the distance measured from the heel of the foot to the ball, does not fall within the normal" foot range. The complexity of design of the prior art devices frequently arises from an attempt to measure and to compensate for the greater shoe length required by that portion of the population having an oversize arch length.

A complication factor in the foot measuring and shoe sizing and fitting procedure is that the shoe width classification for a given shoe size is determinednot only by the actual overall foot width but also is a function of the actual overall foot length. Thus, each of the com monly used shoe width classifications, AAA, AA, A, B, C, D, E, etc., does not correspond to a fixed shoe width. For example, the shoe width classification B represents a wider shoe for a shoe length size of than it does for a shoe size length of 8. A relatively large number of combinations of shoe length and width sizes must thus be interrelated by the measuring and indicating equipment used for determining shoe sizes. The result is that an accurate shoe sizing instrument is mechanically or electronically complex, if accuracy is required, and thus is relatively expensive. The problem of shoe sizing is further complicated in view of the fact that although shoe manufacturers are assumed to have adopted, for

' to the prior art, although quite suitable for determining approximate shoe sizes according to one or more shoe manufacturers, may not be used without conversion tables for determining shoe sizes for shoes manufactured by other manufacturers.

The present invention is a shoe sizing instrument taking into account the significant factors involved in foot measurement and permitting to compare the arch length and the foot overall length dimensions of a foot for proper shoe size determination. Two shoe length and width sizes are individually visually displayed, and the only mental involvement of the user of the instrument of the invention is to select the larger one of the two sizes displayed if the shoe sizes displayed are differ ent. Furthermore, the present invention may be used to determine the shoesize of both feet of a person such that the pair of shoes may be selected which correspond to the larger one of the two feet. The foot measuring and shoe size display operations of the present invention are effected simultaneously by means of a relatively simple mechanical deviceproviding for longitudinally slidable and rotatable drum members bearing charts according to a predetermined shoe sizing system which can easily be replaced by other charts according to a different shoe sizing system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention therefore relates to a shoe sizing instrument provided with a minimum number of simple mechanical parts and controls, and capable of supplying a visual display of a pair of shoe sizes for fitting a human foot. Of the two shoe size readout displays obtained, the user of the device selects the larger one when there is a size difference between the two displays. The instrument of the present invention displays each shoe size singly, rather than displaying the whole shoe size scale relatively to an index line. In addition, the present invention, through the use of a single instrument, permits'to measure the second foot of a person and compare the shoe size fitting the second foot with that of the first foot such that the larger of the two may be chosen.

The many objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art when the following description of an example of a preferred form of the invention is considered in conjunction with the drawings accompanying and forming part thereof and in which like reference numerals relate to like elements. I

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OFTI-IE DRAWINGS FIG. 4 is an enlarged representation of the information placed below one of the pair of shoe size viewing and sighting windows on the cover of the instrument of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the information disposed below the other pair of viewing and sighting windows in the cover of the instrument;

FIG. 6 is a plan view from below of the instrument of the invention, with the bottom portion of the housing thereof removed, substantially as seen from line 66 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view of the instrument as seen from line 77 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a transverse sectional view as seen from line 8-8 of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 9 is a transverse sectional view as seen from line 99 of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In its preferred form, a foot measuring and shoe sizing instrument according to the present invention takes the form of a housing 10 which, as shown in FIGS. 1-3, is made of two half portions, a cover portion 12 and a bottom portion 14, assembled together by any convenient means such as screws, not shown, projecting from the bottom portion 14 and threading into appropriate threaded bosses projecting from the cover portion 12. Both the cover portion 12 and the bottom portion 14 of the housing are internally provided with stiffening ribs to provide strength and rigidity to the housing.

The cover portion 12 has a recessed area 16, one edge of which is provided with an upward projecting stationary heel rest or abutment 18. Three movable abutments disposed on the top of the cover portion 12 are manually engageable with appropriate portions of a foot, such as the right foot placed in the recessed portion 16 with the heel abutting the stationary heel rest or abutment 18. One such movable abutment is a foot ball engaging abutment 22 longitudinally slidable along and guided by a slot 24 disposed through the cover portion 12 in the recess 16, along a side thereof. A foot overall length determining movable abutment 26 is linearly displaceable longitudinally along a longitudinal slot 28 disposed through the cover portion 12, for engagement with the foremost projecting toe of the foot. A transversely displaceable abutment 30, guided by a transverse slot 32 through the cover portion 12 in the recess 16, is displaceable until engaged with the outer side of the foot. Once the diverse manually movable abutments have been disposed in the position shown at FIG. 1, relative to the foot to be fitted with a shoe, the only remaining task for the user of the instrument of the invention is to look through the windows A and B, disposed on the top of the cover portion 12 of the instrument, and read the shoe size individually displayed respectively through window A and window B, the shoe size being indicated in conventional shoe length and width units, mentally compare the two sizes displayed if different, and select the larger size, by following the instructions provided below the windows and reproduced at FIGS. 4 and 5.

It has been statistically found that the majority of the population consist of persons, children as well as adults, whose both feet are either of the same overall dimensions or whose right foot is slightly larger than the left one. Consequently, measuring only the right foot ofa person is generally sufficient to provide an accurate sizing of a pair of shoes for fitting a person. However, if it is desired to also measure the left foot, the instrument of the invention may be used in the mode illustrated at FIG. 2, the left foot being placed in the recess 16 with the heel in engagement with the movable overall length determining abutment 26 positioned at its location of maximum retraction along the slot 28, as illustrated, the ball engaging abutment 22 having been slid along its slot 24 so as to engage the ball of the left foot, and the width determining movable abutment 30 engaging the side of the foot. In the mode illustrated at FIG. 2, the heel to ball length and the overall width of the left foot are measured, and the dimensions are automatically converted into a shoe length and width size which appears in window C. The shoe size displayed at window C is then compared to the larger shoe size previously obtained when measuring the right foot, and the larger of the two shoe sizes is selected. It has been found by experience that once the proper shoe size for fitting the right foot of a person has been determined, all that is required is to determine the shoe size of the left foot by measuring only either the overall length or the arch length of the left foot, as the ratios of overall length to arch length of both feet of a person are generally the same. However, the instrument of the present invention is in principle capable of also measuring the overall length of the left foot by, for example, adding a movable abutment, disposed movable along an appropriate longitudinal slot, symmetrically to the overall length determining movable abutment 26, in replacement of the stationary heel engagement abutment 18. The shoe size corresponding to such overall left foot measurement is further displayed at a window D. Alternatively, the movable slide abutments may remain the same as those illustrated at FIGS. 1 and 2, the longitudinally movable toe abutment 26 being thus engaged with the heel of the left foot having its most protruding toe engaged with the side wall of the heel abutment 18. In such an arrangement, the overall shoe size will still be displaced at window D while the heel to ball dimension, converted in shoe size, is still displayed at window C. However, for the sake of simplification and for the reasons hereinbefore stated, the preferred arrangement is that illustrated at FIGS. l-2, capable of measuring the overall length and the arch length of the right foot of a person and displaying two shoe sizes at windows A and B, the larger one of which is selected, and capable of measuring only the heel to ball length, or arch length, of the left foot and displaying the corresponding shoe size at window C, for the purpose of adopting such shoe size displayed at window C in the event that it is larger than the larger shoe size corresponding to the right foot.

As best shown at FIG. 6, the shoe size indicia sighted through the viewing windows A, B and C are on charts 36, 38 and 40, cemented to the periphery of the drum members 42, 44 and 46, respectively. The drum members 42, 44 and 46 are mounted for free longitudinal motion on longitudinally extending shafts 48, 50 and 52. The shafts, and the drum members mounted thereon, are disposed below the cover portion 12 of the instrument housing, and are supported on their ends by bushings 54 having a peripheral groove 56, the bottom of which fits within a substantially semicircular cut-out portion 58, FIG. 7, of brackets 6060 and 61-61 molded integral with, and vertically extending from,

the cover portion 12 of the instrument housing. The bushings 54, and the shafts supported thereby, are held securely in position when the cover portion 12 and the bottom portion 14 of the housing are fastened together. An integral web 62, as best seen at FIG. 7, and a second integral web 64, as best seen at FIG. 9, project upwardly from the bottom portion 14 of the housing and engage the end of the brackets -60 and 6161,

respectively, projecting partially within a portion of the groove 56 of the bushings 54, such as to hold the bushings securely in position. The ends of the shafts 48, 50 and 52 projecting through the bushings 54 are cylindrical, as shown at 66, and are journalled in the correspondingly cylindrical bore of the bushings such that the shafts are rotatable about their longitudinal axes. The majority of the length of the shafts has a square or hexagonal cross section, or any other convenient shape, and is passed through axially disposed correspondingly shaped apertures in the end flanges of the drum members 42, 44 and 46, such that each drum member is longitudinally slidable relatively to its supporting shaft, but is caused to rotate about the shaft axis in unison with the shaft. Shaft 48 has a sprocket wheel 68 keyed on one end thereof, and shafts 50 and 52 are similarly provided each with a sprocket wheel,

70 and 72. An endless cog belt 74, or timing belt, is wound about the toothed wheels 68 and 72 so as to cause the two sprocket wheels and the corresponding shafts 48 and 52 to rotate in unison. A length of corrugated or cog belt 76 is wound around part of the periphery of the toothed wheel 70 and is attached at its ends, such as by stapling, to the belt 74 such that the toothed wheel 70, and its corresponding shaft 50, is also caused to rotate in unison with the other toothed wheels and shafts.

A portion of the slidable foot side engaging abutment 30 projecting through the transverse slot 32 is attached by means of screws 78 to a slide 80, FIGS. 7 and 8, disposed below the upper surface of the cover portion 12 of the housing. The slide 80 is further supported and guided by way of a slot 82 through which project a pair of downwardly extending pins 84, integral with the lower surface of the cover portion 12, and is slidably maintained in position by way of washers 86 held by screws 88 driven through the axis of the pins 84. The slide 80 has a bracket 90 attached by any convenient fastening means, such as staples, to the belt assembly 74-76, such that any transverse displacement of the slide 80 caused by lateral displacement of the foot side engaging abutment 30 causes simultaneous rotation of the shafts 48-52 and consequently of the drum members 42-46.

The longitudinally slidable foot ball engaging abutment 22 has a portion projecting through the slot 24 fastened by means of screws 92 to a slide 94 disposed below the slot 24. The slide 94 has a transversely extending bracket 96 having a flange 98 projecting within a groove 100 formed in the end of the drum member 44 and a groove 102 formed in the end of the drum member 46. Longitudinal displacement of the ball engaging abutment 22 therefore results in longitudinal displacement of the slide 94, and consequently results in longitudinally displacing the drum members 44 and 46 below the sighting windows B and C.

The toe engageable movable abutment 26 has a portion projecting through the slot 28 which is fastened to a slide 104 disposed below the slot 28, by means such as screws 106. The slide 104 is provided with a laterally extending integral arm or bracket 108 having a flange 110 engaged in a groove 112 fonned on the end of the drum member 42. Consequently, any longitudinal movement of the toe engageable abutment 26 causes longitudinal displacement of the drum member 42 along its support shaft 48, and below the signting window A. If so desired, a fourth drum member, shown in dotted line at 114 in FIG. 6, may be supported by a shaft 116, in the same manner as previously explained, so as to be also longitudinally movable by way of the bracket 108 of the slide 104 of the toe engaging movable abutment 26, the end of the shaft 116 being provided with an appropriate sprocket wheel around which is wrapped a short length of corrugated driving belt, not shown, having its ends fastened to the driving belt 74, such that lateral displacement of the foot side engaging abutment 30 will also cause rotation, not only of the drum member 42 but also of the optional fourth drum member 114.

The viewing and sighting windows A, B and C, and optional window D, are each provided with appropriate masks such that hardly more than a single indicium on each chart disposed on the periphery of each drum member may be seen at a time. Preferably, the sighting windows are provided with optical elements fibre optical elements or the like, disposed at an appropriate angle such that, while sizing a right foot of a person, as illustrated at FIG. 1, an observer looking at the instrument from a short distance above and in front of the instrument is able to observe only the shoe size indicia displayed at windows A and B, while when sizing a left foot, in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2, the user of the instrument placed once again above and in front of the instrument, is capable of viewing only the indicium displayed at window C, and optionally also at window D if a fourth chart bearing drum member is utilized in the instrument for determining the left foot overall length shoe size.

As previously mentioned, the housing 10 of the instrument is preferably made of molded plastic, and all the elements, drums, shafts, slides, etc., are mounted below the cover portion 12, while the slidable movable abutments are mounted above the cover portion. All the elements are also preferably made of molded plastic to reduce the cost of manufacture and simplify the assembly. The only metallic elements in the instrument of the invention are the shafts 48, 50 and S2 for the drum members, the support bushings 54 and obviously the screws and other fasteners. The drum members 42, 44 and 46 are preferably made of thin metallic tubings provided with plastic end flanges pressed in or cemented into the ends of the tubings. The slide 104 being provided with a substantially long arm 108 for longitudinally displacing the drum member 42, in addi tion to being guided by the slot 28 is preferably further supported and guided by a plastic strip 118 (FIGS. 8 and 9) preferably made of a plastic such as tetrafluorethylene or the like, which is resiliently held in the groove formed between the sidewalls of two parallel ribs 120 molded integrally on the bottom of the bottom housing portion 14, the plastic strip 118 projecting above the edges of the ribs 120 into a longitudinal groove 122 (FIGS. 6 and 9) at the bottom of the slide 104.

As best shown at FIG. 6, the charts 38 and 40 are identical, but they are disposed about the periphery of their respective drum members 44 and 46 such that the top line of the chart 38 is proximate the top end of the drum member 44, as seen in FIG. 6, while the top line of chart 40 is proximate the lower end of the drum member 46, such that one chart is disposed upside down relatively to the other. The chart 36 is similar to the charts 38 and 40, i.e., it has the same number of vertical and horizontal lines, each box along a horizontal line corresponding to a shoe length size of increasing width from one end of the line to the other, each box along consecutive vertical lines having indicia of progressively larger shoe length size. However, the charts 38 and 40, although being at the same lateral scale as the chart 36, have a smaller longitudinal scale, as the charts 38 and 40 are used for converting the foot heel to ball lengths, or arch lengths, into shoe sizes, while the chart 36 is used for converting foot overall lengths into shoe sizes.

When it is desired to convert the instrument from one shoe sizing system to another, for example from the U. S. Canadian system to the European shoe sizing system, or within a country from one manufacturer using a particular system to another manufacturer using a different system, all that is required is to remove the charts from their drum members and replace them by appropriate charts for the particular shoe sizing system. When a fourth chart is used, on the optional drum member 114, such fourth chart is identical to the overall length shoe size chart 36, but disposed upside down relatively to the disposition of chart 36.

Having thus described the invention by way of a typical practical embodiment thereof, what is claimed as new and sought to be protected by United Stated Letters Patent is as follows:

I claim:

1. In an instrument for determining and exhibiting a shoe size for a foot comprising a housing, a cover for said housing, a stationary abutment on said cover for engagement with the heel of said foot, a longitudinally movable ball abutment engageable with the ball of said foot, a longitudinally movable toe engageable abutment, a transversely movable abutment engageable with the outer side of said foot, said movable abutments being disposed for linear motions on said cover, the improvement comprising a pair of longitudinally and rotatably movable drums supported below said cover, means for longitudinally moving one of said drums by said toe engageable abutment and the other of said drums by said ball engageable abutment, means for rotating both said drums in unison as a function of the lateral displacement of said foot side engageable abutment, a chart having shoe size increments of increasing length along its longitudinal axis and shoe size increments of increasing width along its transverse axis affixed to the periphery of each drum, both of said charts having equal transverse scales and one of said charts having a compressed longitudinal scale relative to the other being affixed to the drum movable by the ball engageable abutment, and a pair of viewing and sighting windows disposed through said cover, each for viewing a single shoe length and width increment of a respective one of said charts when said instrument is operated with the respective abutments in engagement with a foot to provide a pair of shoe size readouts, the larger of which represents the proper shoe size for said foot.

2. The instrument of claim 1 wherein said charts are according to a predetermined shoe size system and interchangeable with charts according to a different shoe size system.

3. The instrument of claim 1 further comprising at least one third drum mounted longitudinally and rotatably movable below said cover, means for rotating said drum as a function of the lateral displacement of said foot side engageable abutment, means for longitudinally moving said drum by said ball engageable abutment for measuring at least the heel to ball length of a persons second foot with the heel thereof in engagement with said toe engagement abutment in a fixed predetermined position and said foot side abutment in engagement with the side of said foot, a third chart similar to said second mentioned chart affixed to the periphery of said third drum, and a viewing and sighting window through said cover for viewing a single shoe length and width increment of said third chart.

4. The instrument of claim I wherein each of said drums is supported by a longitudinally disposed rotatable shaft disposed below said cover, coacting means are provided between said drum and said shaft for enabling said drum to be longitudinally slidable on said shaft while being rotatable in unison with said shaft.

5. The instrument of claim 4 further comprising a toothed wheel mounted on said shaft, and rack means fastened to said foot side abutment engaged with said toothed wheel for rotating said toothed wheel as a function of displacement of said foot side abutment.

6. The instrument of claim 5 wherein said rack means is an endless cog belt.

7. The instrument of claim 4 further comprising a groove dependent from each of said drums, an arm having a portion engaged in said groove, and means rigidly fastening each of said arms to each of said longitudinally movable abutments for longitudinal displacement of said drums along its support shaft.

8. In an instrument for determining and exhibiting a shoe size comprising a housing, a cover for said housing, a stationary heel engaging plate and a plurality of dimension engaging elements mounted on said cover for manual longitudinal and transverse translation into engagement with a foot comprising a width gaging element, a pair of length gaging elements, one of which is a toe engaging overall foot length measuring element and the other of which is a ball engaging arch length measuring element, a first slide member mechanically translated along a longitudinal axis by said overall length gaging element, a second slide member mechanically translated along a longitudinal axis by said arch length measuring element, a third slide member mechanically translated along a transverse axis by said width gaging element, said slide members projecting into said housing below said cover, the improvement comprising a pair of longitudinally disposed parallel drum members supported in said housing for axial linear motion along their longitudinal axes and for rotation about their longitudinal axes, a pair of similar charts bearing shoe size indicia of progressively increasing length along the longitudinal axis of said charts and of constant shoe length and progressively increasing shoe width along the transverse axis of said charts each disposed on the periphery of one of said drum members, the chart disposed on said first drum member being at the same transverse scale as the chart disposed on said second drum member and at a larger longitudinal scale than said chart on said second drum member, means for rotating said drum members in unison as a function of the lateral displacement of said third slide member, means for longitudinally displacing said first drum member as a function of the longitudinal displacement of said first slide member, means for longitudinally displacing said second drum member as a function of the longitudinal displacement of said second slide member, and a pair of viewing and sighting windows through said cover each for viewing a single shoe size indicium on each chart dependent upon the position of said chart relative to its corresponding viewing and sighting window for providing a pair of shoe sizes, the larger of which represents the proper shoe size for said foot.

9. The instrument of claim 8 wherein said charts are according to a predetermined shoe size system and interchangeable with charts according to a different shoe size system. a

10. The instrument of claim 8 further comprising at least one third drum member mounted longitudinally and rotatably movable below said cover, means for rotating said drum member as a function of the lateral displacement of said third slide member, means for longitudinally moving said drum member by said second slide member for measuring at least the heel to ball length of a persons second foot with the heel thereof in engagement with said toe engaging overall foot length measuring element in a fixed predetermined position and said foot width gaging element in engagement with the side of said foot, a third chart similar to said second mentioned chart affixed to the periphery of said third drum member, and a viewing and sighting window through said cover for viewing a single shoe length and width indicium on said third chart.

11. The instrument of claim 8 wherein each of said drum members is supported by a longitudinally disposed rotatable shaft disposed below said cover, coacting means are provided between said drum member and said shaft for enabling said drum member to be longitudinally slidable on said shaft while being rotatable in unison with said shaft.

12. The instrument of claim 11 further comprising a toothed wheel mounted on said shaft, and rack means fastened to said third slide member engaged with said toothed wheel for rotating said toothed wheel as a function of displacement of said third slide member.

13. The instrument of claim 12 wherein said rack means is an endless cog belt.

14. The instrument of claim 9 further comprising a groove dependent from each of said drum members, an arm having a portion engaged in said groove, and means rigidly fastening each of said arms to each of said longitudinally movable abutments for longitudinal displacement of said drum member along its support shaft. 

1. In an instrument for determining and exhibiting a shoe size for a foot comprising a housing, a cover for said housing, a stationary abutment on said cover for engagement with the heel of said foot, a longitudinally movable ball abutment engageable with the ball of said foot, a longitudinally movable toe engageable abutment, a transversely movable abutment engageable with the outer side of said foot, said movable abutments being disposed for linear motions on said cover, the improvement comprising a pair of longitudinally and rotatably movable drums supported below said cover, means for longitudinally moving one of said drums by said toe engageable abutment and the other of said drums by said ball engageable abutment, means for rotating both said drums in unison as a function of the lateral displacement of said foot side engageable abutment, a chart having shoe size increments of increasing length along its longitudinal axis and shoe size increments of increasing width along its transverse axis affixed to the periphery of each drum, both of said charts having equal transverse scales and one of said charts having a compressed longitudinal scale relative to the other being affixed to the drum movable by the ball engageable abutment, and a pair of viewing and sighting windows disposed through said cover, each for viewing a single shoe length and width increment of a respective one of said charts when said instrument is operated with the respective abutments in engagement with a foot to provide a pair of shoe size readouts, the larger of which represents the proper shoe size for said foot.
 2. The instrument of claim 1 wherein said charts are according to a predetermined shoe size system and interchangeable with charts according to a different shoe size system.
 3. The instrument of claim 1 further comprising at least one third drum mounted longitudinally and rotatably movable below said cover, means for rotating said drum as a function of the lateral displacement of said foot side engageable abutment, means for longitudinally moving said drum by said ball engageable abutment for measuring at least the heel to ball length of a person''s second foot with the heel thereof in engagement with said toe engagement abutment in a fixed predetermined position and said foot side abutment in engagement with the side of said foot, a third chart similar to said second mentioned chart affixed to the periphery of said third drum, and a viewing and sighting window through said cover for viewing a single shoe length and width increment of said third chart.
 4. The instrument of claim 1 wherein each of said drums is supported by a longitudinally disposed rotatable shaft disposed below said cover, coacting means are provided between said drum and said shaft for enabling said drum to be longitudinally slidable on said shaft while being rotatable in unison with said shaft.
 5. The instrument of claim 4 further comprising a toothed wheel mounted on said shaft, and rack means fastened to said foot side abutment engaged with said toothed wheel for rotating said toothed wheel as a function of displacement of said foot side abutment.
 6. The instrument of claim 5 wHerein said rack means is an endless cog belt.
 7. The instrument of claim 4 further comprising a groove dependent from each of said drums, an arm having a portion engaged in said groove, and means rigidly fastening each of said arms to each of said longitudinally movable abutments for longitudinal displacement of said drums along its support shaft.
 8. In an instrument for determining and exhibiting a shoe size comprising a housing, a cover for said housing, a stationary heel engaging plate and a plurality of dimension engaging elements mounted on said cover for manual longitudinal and transverse translation into engagement with a foot comprising a width gaging element, a pair of length gaging elements, one of which is a toe engaging overall foot length measuring element and the other of which is a ball engaging arch length measuring element, a first slide member mechanically translated along a longitudinal axis by said overall length gaging element, a second slide member mechanically translated along a longitudinal axis by said arch length measuring element, a third slide member mechanically translated along a transverse axis by said width gaging element, said slide members projecting into said housing below said cover, the improvement comprising a pair of longitudinally disposed parallel drum members supported in said housing for axial linear motion along their longitudinal axes and for rotation about their longitudinal axes, a pair of similar charts bearing shoe size indicia of progressively increasing length along the longitudinal axis of said charts and of constant shoe length and progressively increasing shoe width along the transverse axis of said charts each disposed on the periphery of one of said drum members, the chart disposed on said first drum member being at the same transverse scale as the chart disposed on said second drum member and at a larger longitudinal scale than said chart on said second drum member, means for rotating said drum members in unison as a function of the lateral displacement of said third slide member, means for longitudinally displacing said first drum member as a function of the longitudinal displacement of said first slide member, means for longitudinally displacing said second drum member as a function of the longitudinal displacement of said second slide member, and a pair of viewing and sighting windows through said cover each for viewing a single shoe size indicium on each chart dependent upon the position of said chart relative to its corresponding viewing and sighting window for providing a pair of shoe sizes, the larger of which represents the proper shoe size for said foot.
 9. The instrument of claim 8 wherein said charts are according to a predetermined shoe size system and interchangeable with charts according to a different shoe size system.
 10. The instrument of claim 8 further comprising at least one third drum member mounted longitudinally and rotatably movable below said cover, means for rotating said drum member as a function of the lateral displacement of said third slide member, means for longitudinally moving said drum member by said second slide member for measuring at least the heel to ball length of a person''s second foot with the heel thereof in engagement with said toe engaging overall foot length measuring element in a fixed predetermined position and said foot width gaging element in engagement with the side of said foot, a third chart similar to said second mentioned chart affixed to the periphery of said third drum member, and a viewing and sighting window through said cover for viewing a single shoe length and width indicium on said third chart.
 11. The instrument of claim 8 wherein each of said drum members is supported by a longitudinally disposed rotatable shaft disposed below said cover, coacting means are provided between said drum member and said shaft for enabling said drum member to be longitudinally slidable on said shaft while being rotatable in unison with said shaft.
 12. The iNstrument of claim 11 further comprising a toothed wheel mounted on said shaft, and rack means fastened to said third slide member engaged with said toothed wheel for rotating said toothed wheel as a function of displacement of said third slide member.
 13. The instrument of claim 12 wherein said rack means is an endless cog belt.
 14. The instrument of claim 9 further comprising a groove dependent from each of said drum members, an arm having a portion engaged in said groove, and means rigidly fastening each of said arms to each of said longitudinally movable abutments for longitudinal displacement of said drum member along its support shaft. 